For Pearson, I would start with 皮 Pí. It is the first character of the documented spelling 皮尔森 Pí'ěrsēn, and it is independently recorded as a Chinese surname. 裴 Péi is worth comparing if you prefer a different character and accept a different vowel. 石 Shí offers a more distant, deliberate stone association through the name's connection with Piers and Peter. It does not sound like Pearson.
Keeping the whole transcription is also reasonable. A short Chinese surname is useful when you want a Chinese-style full name; the longer spelling carries more of Pearson itself.
What 皮 preserves
Human Rights Watch's own bilingual staff page pairs Pearson with 皮尔森. That establishes real published usage rather than a spelling invented for this article. It does not prescribe the form for every family or attach that person's work to your identity. Published name pairing
Cambridge gives a British reference pronunciation /ˈpɪə.sən/, with stress at the beginning. There are regional and family differences. Pí retains a p-like beginning but uses a Mandarin i vowel and a rising second tone; it omits the English second syllable. It cannot preserve the whole sequence merely because it comes first in the transcription. Pearson pronunciation
The Ministry of Education explicitly lists the surname under pí. Its everyday senses include skin and surface. Those meanings can help you explain the character, but they are not the origin of Pearson and say nothing about a bearer's personality. 皮
When 裴 is worth the change
裴 Péi is a different, documented surname. It keeps the same Mandarin initial and rising tone as Pí, but changes i to ei. It also replaces the five-stroke 皮 with the more elaborate fourteen-stroke 裴. Those are concrete differences you can see and hear. 裴
Péi is not simply a more elegant spelling of Pí. Choose it if you genuinely prefer its appearance or the way it works with your chosen given name. If your priority is to point to the first character in 皮尔森 and explain the connection immediately, 皮 has the clearer advantage.
Neither Chinese option reproduces the British vowel sequence exactly. Nor does either preserve the final -son. A bilingual signature can keep Pearson visible alongside the shorter Chinese name, so you do not have to make one character carry all that information.
石 is a link through a given name
The surname dictionary explains English Pearson as a patronymic formed from Per(e) or Piers plus son. Piers is a form associated with Peter; Peter ultimately connects with the Greek word for stone or rock. That gives 石 Shí, a real Chinese surname and the ordinary word for stone, an optional semantic route. Pearson, Piers, 石
The steps matter. Pearson does not simply mean “stone” in present-day English. Shí drops both the English sound and the patronymic structure, retaining one deeper image. I would choose it only if that image is more meaningful to you than preserving the original beginning.
The dictionary's surname sense is under shí, not the separate measure-word reading dàn. Keeping the same written character while changing its reading would change this proposal. Its material association does not guarantee resilience or reveal the occupation of a Pearson ancestor.
Keep the personal story honest
A historical name connected with Peter does not establish your faith or a relationship with a biblical figure. Likewise, adopting 石 does not join you to a Chinese lineage. There is no need to add a religious or legendary character to justify a choice that already has a straightforward explanation.
Try Pí, Péi and Shí before the same Chinese given name. Ask someone to read the written name without a cue, then practise saying and explaining it. If you will use Cantonese or another Chinese language most often, check that pronunciation separately.
My first choice remains 皮 for continuity with a documented transcription. 裴 is a conscious sound-and-script alteration; 石 is a conscious choice of a deeper image. Keep 皮尔森 when recognising the full original surname is the main goal.
Notes and sources
The published Pearson–皮尔森 pairing proves one use; Cambridge supplies a reference pronunciation. Neither is a recording of your family.
Chinese surname readings are checked separately in 皮, 裴 and 石. Their ordinary meanings and our recommendations do not prove shared ancestry.
Pearson appears at website ordinal 98 in the British Surnames table. The site's stated scope is Great Britain, excluding Northern Ireland. No reference year, counting unit or method is disclosed for the modern ranking; no population count is supplied here.
